HopsFest showcases new beers

Warning: If you like good beer, thinking about this Saturday’s Mobile Baykeeper HopsFest may cause uncontrollable drooling.

Kate Mercer, Staff PhotographerCasi Callaway, executive director of BaykeeperFor example, as I was researching the new event, John Lasseter, general manager of the craft division at Gulf Distributing Co., told me patrons would get to sample “everything from light wheat beers up to some coffee stouts and Belgian quads.”

Journalistic diligence compelled me to look that last one up. At www.beeradvocate.com, the Belgian Quadrupel is defined as an ale “of great strength with bolder flavor compared to its Dubble and Tripel sister styles. Typically a dark creation ... Full bodied with a rich malty palate.”

HopsFest runs from 4 to 7 p.m. in Cathedral Square. Tickets are $25 in advance, $26 if purchased through www.mobilebaykeeper.org and $30 (cash only) at the gate. Local ticket outlets include all four Mellow Mushroom restaurants; Momma Goldberg’s Deli, Hopjacks, Buck’s Pizza, Springhill Spirits and the Gourmet Galley in Mobile; Uncorked Fine Wines & Spirits, Kathy’s Package Store and Moe’s Original Bar B Que in Daphne; and Page & Palette in Fairhope. Needless to say, one must be 21 to attend.

HopsFest also will feature music by the Delta Reign Duo. Tents will provide cover in case of rain; proceeds support the work of Mobile Baykeeper.

Lasseter and other organizers are clear on one point: The structure of HopsFest is completely different from that of the long-running Dauphin Street Beer Festival held every fall.

“That was kind of our goal, to make it different,” said Chris Fuchs, managing director at Budweiser-Bush Distributing and a Baykeeper board member. “Really what it’s going to be is sampling craft beers from around the country, and a few imports.”

They do that at the Dauphin Street fest too, of course. But that event involves about 3,000 patrons working a circuit of venues stretching from Washington Avenue to Royal Street. Casi Calloway, executive director of Baykeeper, said HopsFest planners don’t anticipate drawing more than 1,000, and the atmosphere will be more like wine festival than a pub crawl.

“For our part, we really see this as the first official tasting since Alabama passed Free the Hops,” Calloway said. “It’ll be a smaller event. But there won’t be less beer.”

Fuchs said he anticipates that HopsFest will present more than 20 different suppliers and more than 50 brands. Some them have never been sold in Mobile, including beers from Yazoo Brewing Co. of Nashville and Avery Brewing of Boulder, Colo. (For a list, visit www.mobilebaykeeper.org/events/hopsfest.)

It’s more variety than tasters will find at any other location, he said.

Speaking of tasting: Calloway said patrons will get about a two-ounce pour of each brew, a little more than a shot. So it’s definitely about tasting, not guzzling.

Lasseter said that for his part, it’s an opportunity to get feedback from the public rather than retailers.

“We don’t get many chances to speak directly to consumers,” he said.

Even among devoted beer fans, he said, “We find not everybody likes the same beers.”

For patrons, this is a chance to try out and compare high-end beers that may retail for more than $20 a four-pack. “Not very many businesses let you try before you buy,” he noted.

“It’s for a great cause,” said Lasseter. “They’re doing this right. They want to do it responsibly, and do it educationally.” (Lawrence F. Specker is the Press-Register’s entertainment reporter. He can be reached by phone at 251-219-5606; by e-mail as lspecker@press-register.com; by fax at 251-219-5799. Mail notices of upcoming events to him at the Press-Register, P.O. Box 2488, Mobile, AL 36652.)